Ivory
by A Acheron A
Summary: The year 2016 and the world has fallen back into a sort of Middle Ages. Seven teens who all have lead ruined lives are thrown together and find that they have to save the world, but first they have to save each other...
1. Default Chapter

In the Freezing Seas of Ataflorand:

Theta shivered fiercely. Snow fell thickly around her, making it seem the world had turned into a white oblivion. Ice crystals were quickly forming on her wet cloak as she pulled it tighter around her shoulders. Theta had been floating on various chunks of ice trying to reach mainland for, to her, what seemed like forever. She knew she'd either freeze to death or starve before she reached land. The Seas were located way up North and every few hours froze solid enough to run on. False hope was the only thing keeping her going now, and she knew it, too. Theta wished the Twins were with her. They'd know what to do.

Suddenly her little island of ice stopped moving. She looked up from the ball she had curled into and saw the Seas had frozen over! Powered by hope Theta stood and, shakily at first, began to run in what she hoped was the way to land. She ran for what felt like ages, sweating despite the cold. Although she couldn't see too far past her nose, she looked around hoping to signs of land. Ice beneath her, snow around her, then, ice above her? Theta slowly realized she was underwater! Without noticing she had fallen through a week spot in the ice! The little breath she had in her lungs wouldn't last long, and she was sinking fast. The blue of the ice was dimming as the water slowly turned to pitch black. She tried fighting for the surface but her cloak tangled around her and she couldn't move. She wished she hadn't left her fans in Gregornia.

A black figure in the water started rushing for her at amazing speed. Theta stopped struggling, all her strength fading with each moment. Black filled the edges of her peripheral vision and the last of her breath left her as a weird peace enveloped her.

_So this is what it feels like to die..._

She vaguely saw the figure reach forward and embrace her.


	2. Fire

In the town of Hatalwitch in the region of Jermonis:

Erif sat on his bed, staring at the oil lamp's flame waver and die out as it used the last of the oil.

_Strange_, _how simply a flame can calm me down_.

He stood up and refilled the lamp. Relighting the flame, he heard a knock on the front door. Sighing he went to answer it. Erif opened the door and a very dignified-looking boy dressed in exquisite silk clothing bowed down and straightened. He had many tatoos. His face and arms were lined with them. They seemed familiar to him.

"Come, Erif. You are needed. A very interesting fact has been discovered about you. If not careful it can be dangerous. So please, follow me." the boy said promptly.

" And yet _something else._" Erif said exasperated.

_What now? I haven't even gotten used to the LAST thing they told me!_

As Erif followed the messenger to an elegant coach he thought about a day around three months ago...

_Erif remembers sitting in his old shack. It had been his home for as long as he could remember. Though he tried to fix it up, it remained nothing but a hole in the wall. One roomed and floor less, Erif had_ _made it a home nonetheless. He was sitting on a pile of hay that he used as a mattress and playing with the flame from the one lamp that lit up his small home. A soft feeble tap disrupted him. Going to the door, he saw one of the royals' messengers. The messenger gave a curt bow._

"_Erif? The King requests your presence. Come as is."_

That was when the King announced to him he was the lost prince. Lost prince. Erif didn't believe him then and he didn't believe him now. He didn't believe he was anyone special. Following the messenger now reminded him of following the messenger three months ago.

_What now? Have they discovered I'm not really the LOST PRINCE? Are they going to kick me back to my little old shack? That really wouldn't be all that bad..._

Climbing into the coach, he saw that the messenger had too. That meant he wasn't really a messenger.

"Erif, I am Sabrin. Do you know of the school Quarin School of Magick?"

"Yes."

This boy was different. Erif liked him. He didnt call him Prince Steriffin like everyone else insisted upon.

"Your attendance is requested there. We understand if you refuse. After all, you just went through a big change in your life recently."

And he was direct.

"Sabrin," Erif replied in common, "Even if I wanted to go I couldn't. I'm not magick."

"But you are." Sabrin pushed, switching to common as well, "You don't call what you can do with fire magick?"

_How do I reply to that? I know it's not just a talent. But... Is that REALLY magick?_

"Just my point." Sabrin replied as if he had read Erif's mind. "The term starts in a week. I'll be back if you want to think about it. Three days sound good?"

"That's fine, I guess. But I have to insist I'm not magick. I mean. I KNOW I'm not." Erif pressed.

"Well, You can contend all you want Erif. I will not deny that you are magic, though. As the school will not either." Sabrin concluded, speaking in royal again.

"Fine with me. See you in three days." Erif said, refusing to give into his royal blood.


	3. Water

In the middle of Eironia in the town of Bloch:

Triste stood staring at the water fountain in the middle of the town square. Water poured out of an urn held by a beautiful maiden in a sleeveless gown, her wings out as if she were going to fly away. Standing next to her was a handsome young man holding a babe, two young girls, and an adolescent boy. Triste looked at the fountain with longing. There her family was, frozen in stone, waiting for her. Deep in the rock were her families ashes. 7 years ago, her poor little town had been attacked by Ganfinics. Ganfinics were elf-like people who had very short fuses and no social skills. They had been trying to expand their empire and had tried to take the whole of Eironia. They had offered to let the pixies live as they were as long as they submitted to Ganfinion rule. The Eironions refused their offer because the Ganfinics were tyrannus. A week after word of their rejection, the Ganfinics attacked Eironia, though not in a war sense. They kidnaped the Kaiser and his family and decapitated them in the town square of the smallest town in Eironia. Only, the ignorant Ganfinics got the wrong family. They beheaded Triste's family instead. Triste escaped with her life (and her head) only because her brother got himself killed hiding her below the floor boards. It was tragic and appalling, especially for Triste. She was seven years old when her parents, younger twin sisters, and her older brother died. Agua, her brother, had killed himself to save Triste, it was an event Triste remembered clearly.

_Triste and Agua ran through the vast halls of their home, the sun lighting the way. _

"_Triste, whatever you do, don't let them catch you!" Agua had told her between breaths._

_Running into what had been his room, Agua pulled open a nearly inaudible trapdoor in the floor and pushed Triste in. She looked up into her brother's eyes and found nothing but fear._

"_I'll come back for you. I'll bring Mama and Papa back with Feliz and Esperanza. I promise." Agua had whispered as he closed the trap door behind him._

"But he never came back." Triste whispered out loud.

_Triste waited under the floor for what seemed like hours. The screams of her family died away awhile ago. Droplets of water started dripping onto the top of her head. Finally, Triste opened the door and peered out. The sun had fallen and the night was dark. Climbing out of the floor she felt that the floor was soaked. Crawling along through her brother's room, she felt her way to the door. She sat against the door jamb and decided to sleep. Her brother and the rest of her family must be hiding someplace else. I'll find them, she had thought, they can't be far. Standing and walking out of her brother's room, she found a candle and lit it with a match kept nearby. Walking throughout the house she found no one. Heading outside she saw a lot of blood in the hallway. It pooled and trailed to her front door. Running to the door she pulled it open. Leaning against the edge of the door was her brother._

"_Oh, Agua!" she had cried and pulled him into the house. They fell on the floor, Agua leaning against Triste like a small child. His wings had been cut off and his throat had been slit._

"_Agua..." Triste knew she could save him. All she had to do was get him to a doctor._

"_Triste, Stay here..." he croaked._

"_But, Agua I can get help." she protested._

"_No. I don't want to live anymore." he said. Blood bubbled from his throat with every word he spoke._

"_Agua...don't" Triste pleaded._

"_Triste...I love you...Don't...give...up like...I did... If you...do I'll...hit you...so hard..." he never got to finish his sentence. His body slumped down and Triste laid him down on the floor. She sat there next to her brother's body that night, dry eyed but angry._

_The next morning, townsfolk found her curled next to her brother's body._

"Triste?" a voice asked.

Triste turned. A man stood behind her. He wasn't a pixie, although he wasn't a Ganfinic either, He was human. He was the man who was supposed to find homes for her to stay in. She didn't know his name, but that wasn't important to her.

"Have you found someplace for me to go?" she asked.

"Yes, actually. Quarin School of Magick." the man said formally.

"Magick? I am not magick, sir. All those happenings were naught but coincidences."she said speaking in Royal.

"Believe but you will miss but that is where I found you to stay. Term starts in a week." the man said, terminating the conversation.


End file.
